timbre change in digital pianos.

[Derek]

Has anyone noticed that as you play a chromatic scale down from the top (or up from the bottom) of your digital piano that every few notes there is a distinct change in timbre? I can only guess that is due to the fact that most digital pianos do not have a sample of all 88 keys of an acoustic piano, it is a smaller subset with all the rest of the notes artificially transposed and filled in.  I first noticed this when one of the higher d-flats on my roland F-100 sounds slightly less brilliant than the other notes. I made sure this was the case by turning off the touch sensitivity briefly and listening to the timbre of each note.

Acoustic pianos have subtle changes in timbre for each note as well of course, as well as having some tiny flaws in tuning (even the best tuners aren't perfect). I suppose digital pianos just accentuate this fact by having fewer sampled tones.

[Bob]

Yes.  Damn the manufacturers.  It's obvious -- doesn't take much listening.  And it seems like an easy fix -- Sample all 88 keys.  Or figure out how to make them all exactly the same sound from one key.

[Derek]

Some of the higher end ones I am pretty sure do have 88 samples in fact I think they also have samples of different loudnesses of each of those 88. Those digital pianos are quite impressive.  I'm very very happy with my Roland F-100,   despite my ability to hear these things I'm remarkably non-picky.

[Derek]

Hmm.  I just went to Robert M.Sides again to try out the HP-107 digital. It is 3000$ more than the one I have, but as far as I can tell the exact same piano samples are used (it has the sectional timbre change just like my F-100).  The only difference is in the electronic bells and whistles. And the 107 has a better speaker system I suppose. Oh well, I think I got a really good deal on the F-100. It was only 1370 U.S. $.

[jeffb]

Try listening to a Yamaha Clavinova sometime - the detail they go into when recording those samples are amongst the best I have ever heard.

I have a Yamaha S90ES, and am really impressed with the piano sample on that keyboard too.